The Summoner's World
by blacksnap
Summary: A rogue summoner is surprised, but pleased to have two champions fall into his grasp.
1. Chapter 1

The champion awoke in total darkness. This alone would not normally have concerned him, but for some reason he could hardly move. Some sort of coiling wire tethered his limbs to a flat, but slanted surface. The champion blinked and squinted, trying in vain to collect his bearings.

"Hello?"

His deep voice came out hoarsely and sounded harsh to his own ears. He tugged at his bonds to no avail and spoke again, louder and stronger.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

There was no reply. The champion grew quiet and tried to think, which was made difficult by the fact that he had an explainable headache.

All he could think of was that he'd had a very long and grueling match recently. He had been paired with an incompetent summoner, the worst summoner he had seen in a long time, and there was nothing he could have done about it. It was one of the downsides of fighting on the Fields of Justice, rather than in a real battle. The champion sighed, mulling over the match. With a large early game advantage, his team had dominated the battlefield, destroying the enemy in every confrontation... Yet their summoners did not grasp the importance of pushing objectives while the enemy was down. The champion gritted his teeth as he imagined his summoner commanding him to kill the tenth dragon an hour and twenty minutes into the game, when most champion had already completed their item builds.

In fact, he suddenly remembered, he had been standing in front of that dragon pit, waiting for it to respawn, frustrated and confused, wondering why he still had his biscuit from the start of the game, while the enemy pushed to their nexus and won the game. It had to have been a novice summoner. There was no other explanation for the sheer stupidity...

The man sighed and shifted as best as he could. The cords bound his arms at a ninety-degree angle so that his fists rested near his head. His muscles were starting to strain. Just how long had be been in this position?

"You are Darius?" said a smooth voice with a snake-like quality from his right.

The man turned his head sharply toward the sound.

"Karthus?" he asked.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"No..." the voice said, "Answer the question."

The man frowned, but decided that in his current state, it would be best to play along for now.

"Yes, I am Darius, of Noxus."

"You are a champion... of the League of Legends?"

"I am," Darius replied, "Where am I?"

As he waited for an answer, a shining blue orb of light erupted in front of his face, causing him to flinch away as his eyes struggled to adapt. Despite the blue orb glaring in his face, he began to make out a lean figure standing by his side. He could only see the expressionless lower half of the man's face; the rest was covered by the hood of sweeping, floor-length robes. He held the swirling blue orb of light in his palm, and despite the color distortion, the champion recognized the man by his garb.

"Summoner?" asked Darius, "What's going on?" He winced, the bright light worsening the pain in his head, and he wanted to turn away, but he kept the summoner in his sight.

"Please, allow me to ask the questions for now," the summoner answered, holding the ball of light closer to his prisoner's face. Darius gave up sizing up his captor turned his head away sharply.

Darius struggled to think. What answers could he possibly have? What had happened recently? Nothing political, really. Perhaps this man was simply another disgruntled enemy of Noxus. These things had happened to others before. He remembered the results of Warwick's imprisonment and torture.

"How did you follow me?" the summoner asked, out of his view. Darius kept silent. He had no recollection of following a summoner anywhere, unless working on the Fields of Justice counted for something. He shifted in his bindings uncomfortably. Come to think of it, what had happened after his last match? He had been standing in front of Dragon. Then the match had ended. Now he was here.

It was strange, but he felt as though he were missing something. His headache flared and he curled his lips into a grimace.

"I... Didn't follow you here. I was on Summoner's Rift. The match ended. Then... Then..."

He struggled to continue the sentence, but failed, and heard the summoner take a deep breath. Darius shifted his arms, tugging at the bonds again. This made no sense. Why would a champion be following a summoner? Why would a summoner care?

He felt contact on his forehead and jerked in surprise, but the summoner did nothing, but to run his cool finger across his forehead briefly before pulling back.

"You fell out of the sky," said the summoner, sounding mystified, "I suppose I _could_ be mistaken..."

It was all Darius could do not to roll his eyes at the arrogance of some summoners. He was disturbed, though. He'd fallen out of the sky?

"I don't understand," he said, a note of annoyance creeping into his voice, "Tell me what-."

"Yes, yes, I know that now. They didn't send you after me. You were given to me," said the summoner. There was a shift in the lighting and the blue sphere suddenly rose five feet into the air, where it stayed, illuminating a circular chamber. Darius could see that he was indeed bound by cords, black ones, on a smooth grey platform in the center of the room. His armor and his axe were nowhere in sight. The only other things worth noting were the runes inscribed on the walls. Defense-affiliated runes, Darius knew from his limited knowledge of such things.

"Who gave me to you?" he demanded. Was their a traitor in the league? The summoner had moved around his head to his left, and without the blinding orb in his face, Darius could see the man more clearly. It was indeed a summoner, with a gaunt face and a cruel smile lurking around his lips. Darius did note, however, that the man's robes were old and somewhat faded. It was no summoner he could recognize.

"Fate."

"Twisted Fate?" demanded Darius.

"No, my child. Fate. An accident. Purely coincidental. It happened by chance," the summoner reached out towards him.

"Don't touch me," snarled Darius, irritated that the summoner had the nerve to address him as a child. But the man continued regardless and held his palm against Darius's forehead. Darius glared at the summoner, expecting something to happen, but nothing did.

"I want some answer-" he started, and his forehead suddenly blazed with agony. He broke off with a yell and struggled fruitlessly, trying to shake off the summoner's hand that suddenly felt as hot as a thousand suns.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ashe, I'm trying to engage!" Leona cried desperately as her blade bounced off Taric's shield.

"I know, I'm sorry," Ashe called out from the turret, sniping yet another minion with a glassy arrow, "For some reason my summoner keeps telling me to farm. Get out of there!"

Leona sighed, wishing that their summoners would communicate with each other before giving their champions directions, and retreated to the bush, taking more damage from the encounter than necessary.

She sat in the bush as time passed uneventfully, occasionally jabbing the enemy's Varus for some extra gold if he came too close. He took little notice, relying on Taric to deal with her as he focused on controlling the flow of the minion waves.

"Teemo has left mid lane," came a message from Xerath, "Be aware... Never mind, he has been sitting here this whole time."

Leona sighed and continued to wave her blade in Varus's direction whenever he thought about advancing. Normally she would be trying a bit harder than this, trying to make a good play early on in order to give her partner a nice lead, but she felt as though her summoner were a bit... lacking in effort today.

"Teemo has left mid lane," Xerath intoned again. "He may have gone to gank top lane. Be aware, Jax... Never mind, he was just sitting still for six seconds... How could I have missed..."

It was going to be a long match.

-65 minutes later-

It had been a dreadfully long match, thought Leona, as she helped Xerath secure the Blessing of the Ancient Golem yet again.

"Please don't lose it again," she implored, before heading off to ward the river in front of Dragon. To her surprise, she found Taric standing there. He turned and spotted her, but instead of attacking her, he shrugged.

"We're surrendering," he said, "Something's up with Renekton's and Xin Zhao's summoners, so we might as well wrap this up."

"Oh," said Leona, lowering her blade, "Sorry about that."

Taric shrugged. "It's alright. It happens to all of us."

As they stood there, waiting, the Dragon stirred from the ashes of its pit. It made no move, but stared balefully at them as Taric's team's nexus exploded.

"Good game," Leona offered, before the summoners could spirit them all to the Institute. She said this purely out of courtesy, knowing that she hadn't performed her best at all. She had hardly had enough gold to complete her fourth item. Heck, she even had the biscuit she hadn't used all gam-

All thought was cut off at the sight of the ground rushing up at her.


	3. Chapter 3

Leona stood up shakily, looking for her sword, thankful that she hadn't landed on it after the fall. She glanced up, but all she could see were stars in the night sky. At least, she was relatively sure she had fallen. How and why, she couldn't explain, when she should have been back at the Institute of War by now.

But no, she wasn't at the Institute. She was in some sort of... jungle. At least, as far as she could tell by the silhouettes of the trees and the shapes of their leaves. She stood a while longer, taking in her surroundings. It was hard to see, with nothing but starlight for illumination, so she summoned forth her innate magic to conjure her shield, which cast a faint glow around the area for a few seconds.

Yes, she stood in a clearing in a jungle, with plants somewhat resembling the ones she was used to on the Fields. She stood a while longer in bafflement. Her match had ended. Then she had fallen from... the sky? She looked up again, seeing nothing but the leaves on the trees.

As she stood, it became apparent that she was not alone. A rustle in the bush. A deep, guttural croak, and the crackle of leaves. There was definitely something out there. Leona backed away from the foliage, wanting to explore more of the clearing. She had only moved three feet before she nearly tripped over her sword. Picking it up and feeling a bit safer, she walked on.

As minutes progressed, she could determine nothing particularly unique about this clearing. If there was some magical disturbance that could have altered her travel from the Rift to the Institute, it was nothing she could sense. She paused, seeing a change in the terrain. As she approached, it revealed itself to be a sloping valley surrounding a glassy, black pond.

The noises persisted. Frogs, mostly, but also a menacing growl here and there, almost as if they wanted to know she was being followed...

Was that a voice? It sounded human. Leona froze, alert. Yes. It was a human voice, male, and in pain. She hastened down the slope, carefully, not wanting to lose the sound. Yes, this was the right direction. It was getting louder. Now she could see a faint glow in the distance. A campfire, maybe?

No, there were torches, in a cave embedded into the slope. Leona paused at the entrance, hesitant. Yes, someone was clearly here, but she had no way of knowing if they would welcome her presence.

The man's voice cried out in renewed terror. Well, she couldn't sit out here forever. She ran into the cave, whose walls were brightly lit with torches. The cave branched off into different passages, but she followed after the voice.

After following a particularly dark passage, she came upon a chamber where the cave's grey walls abruptly blackened and were adorned with faintly glowing runes. She raised her glowing sword for better vision, and saw a man lying on a raised platform. He could not see her, for he was bound so that he did not face the entrance to the chamber, but he had likely seen her light.

She approached him, keeping her sword raised for the light. Then she saw his face.

"Darius!" she gasped. It was the missing champion of the League. She was sure of it, for he had the scar across his eye as well as the telltale white forelock of hair. His eyes were closed and his face was pale. At the sound of his name, he opened his eyes, but winced at the light that had offended his acclimation to the darkness. A few seconds passed and he looked up at her finally, but no recognition crossed his face. He showed no sign of fear or relief.

"Who did this to you?" Leona asked, examining the black coils that bound his arms to the platform. Receiving no answer from the man, she began to saw away at his bonds with her weapon.


	4. Chapter 4

At her touch, Darius yelped and struggled violently.

"Enough! Leave me be!"

The woman took a step back, startled.

"I'm sorry? I'm trying to help you. Tell me, who did this to you?"

Darius glared at her distrustfully. She seemed familiar. He briefly recalled an image of her fighting in the Crystal Scar.

"So you're a champion of the League now, are you? The act is getting old," he hissed venomously, "Just do what you've come to do and be done with it."

The woman gazed at him, confusion spreading across her face.

"I... was... trying to free you. There's no act. I am Leona, of the Iron Solari. I found myself stranded here after a match on Summoner's Rift. I heard screaming, so I came to find you. Have you been here all this time? You've been missing for two months." She came closer, holding her blade out warily.

Darius paled. Two months? Had he really been strapped to this table for two months? It was unbelievable... His eyes narrowed as Leona approached him and continued to cut his bonds. His lips curled in a snarl and he tensed at her touch, but she seemed to have only good intentions.

She freed his right arm, then his left, and he noted that the black cords withered away into nothingness as she broke them. He lifted his head and struggled to sit up, but his arms were stiff and atrophied and provided no support. He lay down again, breathing heavily, as the woman cut the last of the cords from his legs.

"Come on," she said, "We should go before... whoever lives here finds us."

Darius made another effort to sit up and slumped down again, failing.

"You go. Save yourself," he muttered. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried to escape before, but he had never gone far before he found himself in the summoner's grasp once more. The summoner... Darius shivered.

He felt a strong, warm hand on his arm and jerked away reflexively.

"Don't touch me!" he growled furiously "Don't-"

She slapped her hand across his mouth to muffle his voice.

"Look, please. I'm not your enemy here," she insisted, "You're almost free. Don't give up now."

Darius found his body trembling uncontrollably, from fear or fury, he could not be sure, but he grudgingly allowed the woman to assist him to stand. He found his footing stiffly and gripped the edge of the table to keep his balance as the blood rushed from his head.

"Why do you insist on doing this?" he groaned, as she led him firmly, but gently, out off the chamber.

"Why do you insist on leaving?" came a hated, familiar voice. He looked up to see the man in dreaded purple robes standing before them.

**(Hmm... Well, thanks for the first review. This is my first fanfiction... pretty much ever, so I appreciate the feedback. Also, I'm trying to take liberties with the lore, but I don't ever want to outright contradict it, so if you see any mistakes, please let me know. :) Um... Yes, I have most of the story planned out already and I'm just trying to decide on the ending to take. See ya later, then.)**


	5. Chapter 5

Leona gasped. A summoner? Here? She tightened her grip on her sword.

"Darius, who is that?" she murmured.

"Shouldn't you know?" Darius replied coolly, and shook her hand off him brusquely. His Noxian pride made him loathe to show weakness, Leona assumed, but she couldn't help wishing that he'd be a little more cooperative.

She did not, in fact, recognize the summoner. She could hardly see the details of his face, shrouded by the hood, but she could see a dark smile hanging around his lips.

The man spoke again, with his soft, silky voice, "Two champions... in as many months. Whatever did I do to deserve this treat?"

He began to approach them slowly. Leona glanced at Darius to see him eyeing the summoner with loathing, and even a bit of fear.

"What have you done to him?" she demanded, lifting up her shield defensively.

"We're just having a bit of fun," the summoner answered, "You see... He keeps trying to escape me, but I always seem to catch him in the end. It's a little game we play."

He was only a few feet away from them now. Leona's mind raced with possibilities. She thought she could take him down, yet he was a summoner, one of the most powerful beings in Valoran, and he had clearly managed to keep Darius in check for quite some time. It was mostly his magic that she feared, knowing what he could achieve with a simple Ignite or Exhaust spell.

"There's no need to fight," the man spoke, "Really, I only kept him here because his insanity made him a danger unto himself."

Suddenly Darius roarer and leaped at the summoner, but the other man was quicker and nimbly stepped aside, snatching Darius's wrist with a gleeful shout. Darius collapsed suddenly, writhing on the ground in silent agony, as the summoner maintained his iron grip on him, but then Leona was upon him, slashing down on his shoulder with her blazing sword. She bashed his skull with her shield with all of her strength behind the stunning blow.


	6. Chapter 6

The instant the summoner had gripped his wrist, Darius had felt his bones shatter. The woman had intervened, the contact was broken, and Darius found himself still in one piece, and apparently unharmed. Yet the pain had sparked uncomfortable memories that he would rather forget.

"Are you alright?" The woman was there now, helping him up.

"...Yes," he growled, keeping an eye on the inert body of the summoner, "Release me."

She let him go, but then the summoner began to stir, and she grabbed him again, leading him towards the exit.

"Quick, before he recovers," she said.

Darius glanced back and saw green magic coursing over his body and instantly recognized it as a healing spell. Leona pulled at him, urging him to move faster, and he tried, but his weakened body was having trouble keeping up.

He heard the summoner's voice call out to them, "Yes, run away. See how long you last in the wild before I have to save you. Foolish children..."

They ran,beyond the lake, scrambled up the slope, through the clearing and into the trees until Darius sank to the ground, overcome by the overexertion.

"I don't think he's chasing," Leona gasped between breaths.

Darius looked up at her, examining her face in the dim starlight and the glow of her Zenith Blade. He had never made it beyond the lake in his previous "escapes". Perhaps he could trust this Leona after all. Still... he wasn't safe yet. He glanced back towards the clearing.

"Any idea where we are?" the woman asked. He shook his head. "We should keep moving, anyway," she sighed, and held out her hand for him.

Darius ignored her offer and struggled to his feet. He still wasn't sure how he felt about this. It didn't feel like a trap, but he knew that the summoner was notoriously crafty with his tricks. He would press on for now.

They trudged through dense clearing, where the foliage above was so thick that it blotted out the stars and there was only Leona's swordlight to guide them.


	7. Chapter 7

"We should rest," Leona asserted, "We won't get anywhere in this state."

Her companion grunted in acknowledgement and lowered himself to the ground near a tree. He was clearly exhausted, but struggling not to show it. A good night's sleep would do him well, but Leona wondered if they should risk it with the malicious summoner potentially nearby.

"Sleep," she told Darius, "I can keep watch."

The man studied her suspiciously, not bothering to hide his distrust. Leona couldn't blame him, though, considering the treatment he had been put through.

"If I wanted to betray you I'd have done so already. I've helped you up to this point. Please, trust me."

The man kept his gaze on her a while longer, then lowered his head and closed his eyes. Leona sheathed her sword, not wanting to attract unwanted attention with the light.

During her vigil, she had time to contemplate everything that had happened. She intended to question Darius further later. How had he ended up here? Why had he been so reluctant to cooperate with her? Where had the summoner come from and what had he done to him? As far as she had seen, Darius was not wounded, and only signs of weakness and hunger.

She remembered seeing him collapse from the summoner's touch during the skirmish, though he had not been physically harmed. She had never seen anything like it. However, he was a summoner, and potentially had access to areas of magic that she could not possibly imagine...

The sun was already rising. Leona awoke with a jolt, realizing that she had dozed off. She looked over and saw Darius clearly for the first time.

He was clad only in the black garments he usually wore underneath his armor on the battlefield, similar to a jumpsuit. He was thinner than she had remembered, and skin was pale from a lack of exposure to the sun. They would have to find food somehow. Leona scanned the plants around her, recognizing none of them. She sighed and got to her feet, looking towards Darius and was surprised to see him looking at her.

"Let's head north," she said. As he rose, she explained, "We're clearly south of civilization. My guess is that we're in Kumungu. If we head north, we can go across the Shurima Desert to Mount Targon."

She had no idea how they were going to cross a desert, but north also happened to be heading away from the summoner's cave, which she didn't feel like passing by anytime soon.

"Can you tell me _anything_ about what happened to you?" she asked half an hour later.

She used her sword to hack away at some particularly dense foliage blocking their path. Darius had been following her wordlessly. She didn't really expect an answer, but the silence had been unnerving.

"I... He..." she heard him say. She looked back to see him struggling to answer her.

"I found myself here after a match in the League. I found his cave. I don't think he was expecting me. He... trapped me," Darius finally said.

"What exactly did he... do?" Leona asked, then noticing his face darken, added, "I'm sorry. It's just that you don't seem to be injured, really."

Darius stopped suddenly, grabbing a branch for support as his knees trembled beneath him.

"Haven't moved in weeks," he explained.

"I'll help you," Leona offered, and touched his arm. He drew away suddenly.

"No. Fine. I believe you. You want to help. Just don't touch me."

Was that fear in his eyes? Leona withdrew her hand and waited for him to recover.


	8. Chapter 8

He opened his eyes.

Cold. Dark. Pain.

His arms ached from their painfully familiar positions, bent at ninety-degree angles, hands above his head.

The cool, sturdy bindings pressed against his skin as he shifted. He could feel new ones, across his neck and his torso. He was gagged, too, and blindfolded.

There was silence. He lay there, tensed, heart racing with fear. This wasn't possible. He'd escaped. With _her_. Where was she?

Had they been caught? Had it been a dream? Was the summoner messing with his mind?

The summoner.

His ears were filled with the sounds of his own muffled screams and his mind was overwhelmed with emotions of dread, fear, and hate. He knew what would happen when the summoner returned. He would be mocked for his failures. He growled angrily as the memory of that hated voice entered his mind. The summoner knew him impossibly well, knew exactly what to say to play with his emotions.

Then he would be touched. Usually on the head, sometimes on the arm or hand. The summoner would hold his hand, press his palm against his forehead, grasp his throat, or caress his face, watching with unabated glee as his victim thrashed with the agony that his touch caused.

He had drowned while burning alive on this table. He had felt a thousand blades slicing into his flesh all over his body, yet his clothing remained intact and he never bled once.

He remembered the summoner giving him water. He had refused, but the summoner had simply pinched his ear and he found himself opening his mouth to accept the drink. After he had swallowed, the summoner had relinquished his control over his body, yet continued to rub his ear. Soon, he felt the water turn to acid in his throat. He had burned in agony for what had seemed like eternity, and when the summoner grew bored and released him, the pain had vanished.

The pain wasn't real, but the memories lingered.

"You are awake," a soft, raspy voice said, "I though I heard-"

He roared unintelligibly and thrashed, straining his neck and wrists as he pulled at the cords. The summoner's cool hand clamped around his throat and his voice instantly died away.

"Quiet, Darius," he heard the summoner whisper, "It's only a nightmare. There's no need to worry; none of this is real."

Darius's heart hammered against his ribs. The pressure from the summoner's hand pushed the cords against his neck uncomfortably. He could feel his muscles relaxing against his will. No. He would fight. He wanted to fight. Why wouldn't his body respond?

"Good boy," murmured the summoner, "Easy now, I don't want you to hurt yourself..."

He lay there helplessly, knowing that the summoner was invading his mind even as he constructed his thoughts. Anger and humiliation flooded him. How could one man have so much power over another?

_Coward,_ he thought.

He was reprimanded with a searing shock in his left foot.

_Tonight you will starve, _the summoner told him, _It will be as slow and as painful as I can make it._

He woke, gasping, to see the starry sky above him.


	9. Chapter 9

Leona looked down at the remnants of the bird they had eaten the previous night ruefully. It hadn't been much, but it would be enough to keep them going today. For water, they had the morning dew on the leaves.

To her surprise, Darius had shaken her awake before the sun had even shown itself, impatient to move on. He looked horrible and Leona wondered at how the rest hadn't done him any good.

They continued north, slapping away buzzing insects, always on the lookout for water and something to eat. They examined a tree bearing bright yellow fruits, wondering whether it was safe or not. The animals seemed to be fine with it. Leona took a tentative bite of the fruit and found it to be juicy and sweet. They ate well.

Their appetites sated, they began to talk. She asked him about his family.

"I have a brother, Draven. You may have seen him around."

Leona nodded, "He's... quite a character. I've laned with him once before, and saw him steal Nashor from the enemy from the other side of the map."

"He's an arrogant fool," Darius replied, but Leona saw the hint of a smile quirking across his lips.

"My parents live in my village, on Mount Targon. I haven't seen much of them since the Solari took me in," she told him, "I'm afraid they think that I disgraced them when I-"

She cried out and fell forward as something heavy impacted on her back,. She pulled out her sword and whirled around, then ducked to avoid a blow to the face.

Their attacker was nothing she had ever seen before. It was tall, bipedal, and darkly colored, and its forearms ended in serrated blades. It had a round, elongated head, with huge bug-like eyes. It hissed at her, then stabbed at her with both blades. She brought her shield up in time, but the force of the blow knocked it from her grasp to the ground. Seeing an opening, she jabbed at it with her sword.

An imperfect hit, it glanced off of the creature's carapace. But the thing screeched in pain, for Darius had grabbed it around the throat from behind. The creature spun, and Leona caught a glimpse of pale green wings. She slashed at them, tearing one badly. It gave her a powerful kick to the jaw.

With another loud screech, it flung Darius over its shoulder. He landed beside her heavily. Leona looked up at the creature standing before them, then up towards the midday sun. Without hesitation, she summoned the sun's power from above.

The bolt of solar energy caught the beast directly, leaving it in a stunned daze. Leona pulled Darius to his feet.

"Run," she told him and shoved him forward. They raced through the brush desperately for a while and collapsed, panting, in a ditch. Leona checked herself over quickly. Her shoulder was bruised and she was covered in cuts that branches had given her in the rushed escape.

"You okay?" she asked Darius.

He grunted negatively and she saw that his knee was dripping with blood. In his hand he gripped a thorn-like object the same deep color as the creature that had attacked them.

"It shot this into the back of my knee," he explained tiredly, "But I got him back... in the neck... He'll bleed..."

His head fell back and his eyes closed. Leona approached warily.

"Let me see," she said, tentatively reaching out. He allowed her to roll him onto his side. Good, a sign that he trusted her. That, or he simply had no strength to resist. The spike from the creature had cut into the back of his knee and was bleeding heavily. She didn't think it would be fatal, but if it grew infected, they would have major problems.

She worked with what she had, using some of the fabric from one of her sleeves under her armor. It was especially bad that his leg was wounded. It would impede their already slow progress even further. When she had finished, she sat beside him.

"At least it hasn't followed us," she muttered, and heard Darius sigh deeply.


	10. Chapter 10

Darius gripped the spike tightly, relishing the fact that it was covered in the monster's own blood. It was his weapon now, finally, a tool he could use to defend himself. Not that the woman hadn't fought well, but it felt demeaning to depend on another person for his survival.

He remembered wrenching the spike from his leg and sinking the spike into the creature's neck with immense satisfaction. It had been a strike back against the world wanted him to suffer. He had shown that he could fight back. He was not defenseless.

Of course, now he was wounded. It could have been worse. He could have taken that spike to his bare neck.

Leona was speaking, but he couldn't make out her words. He had lost too much blood. The world was spinning around him. He let his eyes close and felt himself drift away.

The Crystal Scar. He wasn't too familiar with the arena... What was that? That wretched brat, Talon, was in need of an assist? He felt his footsteps quicken as he neared his allied Janna, who'd had the misfortune of being double summoned... The altars have unlocked... Three seconds... Now five... An execution, swift and final, then another... another... Four in a row. Arrows fell from the sky, from the Ionian archer, hatred blazing in his eyes. Starving now, on the battlefield, hadn't eaten in days...

"I'm back, my child," whispered the summoner, and Darius felt a cool hand grasp his wrist.

He awoke with a gasp, expecting the dreaded darkness, restraints digging into his wrists. But the air around him was warm, and the room was warmly lit. He lay on a padded surface, a cloth cot, but his body was free to move about. He sat up slightly, pausing as his injured leg protested, and had a better look around.

It was a primitive, yet comfortable dwelling, with various animals' horns adorning the walls, and their pelts carpeting the floor. A small blaze in a fireplace bathed the room in light and warmth.

He saw Leona conversing with a large, pale furry humanoid, sitting on the ground by a low table.

"-are poisonous. Don't bother with them," said the beast, holding up a red, thumb-sized berry with a paw. His voice was gravely and almost savage, though his words were not.

Leona nodded and pointed to some object on the table, posing a question. She had cleaned up since Darius had last seen her, showing no signs of blood, and sporting a bandage on her left arm. Darius looked down at his own injury and was surprised to see a matching binding around his knee. He examined himself more carefully. His body felt clean and his skin was smooth, showing no trace of the dirt, sweat, and blood that he had accumulated during their trek.

He let out a contented sigh, inadvertently drawing the attention in the room to him.

"You're awake," Leona said, smiling at him, "This is Rengar. He found us in the ditch and brought us to his den."

Darius nodded at Rengar, whose bright blue eyes were focused on him intently.

"You dressed my wounds," he stated flatly, and the beast grunted affirmatively. Darius pushed himself up to a sitting position.

"Your scars shall run deep. I did not know that the sorcerer had the strength to apply such wounds," Rengar said.

Darius' breath caught in his throat. Sorcerer?

"What sorcerer?" Leona voiced his concerns aloud, "We were attacked by a huge insect."

"The human you told me you were fleeing from. Summoner. Sorcerer. He lives a day's travel to the south of this place."

"We're that close?" Darius cut in sharply, his heart pounding against his ribs, "We've been traveling for days."

"A day's travel by _my_ pace, not that of a weakened, injured human," Rengar replied, "I have assisted you. We will eat, then you may rest until you leave at dawn."

He rose from the ground and strode off, presumably to prepare a meal.

"Are you alright?" Leona asked him, "I was asking about some of the plants around here, so we'll have a better chance of getting out of here."

He grunted noncommittally, his mind beginning to wander. Finding Rengar here was fortunate, something he could never have anticipated, and had likely saved them from a slow, painful, and ultimately unavoidable death in the jungle. Yet something felt extremely wrong about this entire journey. He had felt it nagging in the back of his mind over the past few days, but he had never been able to pin it down.

The summoner's dark laugh echoed in the back of his mind.


	11. Chapter 11

The meal consisted entirely of meat, but Leona didn't care. She ate quickly, using her teeth to tear the delicious meat that clung to thick bones. Darius, she saw, wasted no time in eating his first full meal in two months.

"Tell me more about this insect you battled," Rengar said, using a large knife to cut up some sort of avian he had cooked, "I am surprised that I have not encountered it before."

She told him and he listened, enthralled by its description. She even pointed out the claw of the beast, which Darius had kept on his person.

"Remarkable," he rumbled around a bone, "For I thought that I had cleared my territory of such predators. It will be a refreshing experience to stalk mighty prey once again."

They finished the meal in relative silence, then Darius retreated to the cot and lay there, where he sighed deeply in what she took to be contentment. Leona settled down near the fireplace and watched as their host stirred the coals with a poker.

"You said that we can leave at dawn," Leona began after what felt like hours, gazing into the flames and keeping her voice down, "But do we really have a chance of getting out of the forest and through the desert on our own?"

"There's always a chance," came the rough response. That wasn't exactly reassuring.

"I should mention a few things. Firstly, a human hunting party passed near here three days ago. You will likely not catch up to them, but as I said, there is a always a chance. Secondly, beware of your companion," he murmured, "The sorcerer, no, summoner? I was here when he first arrived. Took me by surprise… We've learned to keep our distance."

He paused as if reliving a past moment, then turned to her sharply, "Oh yes, your friend. The sorcerer corrupts all that he touches. I have seen what he does to the animals he captures. There is something not right about them when he lets them go," he rapped his forehead with his knuckles for emphasis.

"Now sleep. I have work to do." Then he was gone, leaving her to reflect on his words.

It took much willpower to keep herself from falling into despair. That they had survived this long was a miracle, but their flight was far from over. She heard Darius stir and watched him with a mix of apprehension and sympathy. Over the past few days they had struggled for their lives together, yet she felt as though she hardly knew him.

The doubts plaguing her made it difficult to fall asleep. They would try meet up with the hunting party, she decided, but they would have to move fast and Darius's leg injury would hinder them. However, she didn't see another alternative other than navigating the rest of the jungle and then the desert by themselves. With a brief pang of resentment, she wondered why Rengar could not escort them himself, but she banished the thought, knowing that he had done so much for them already. She would have to rely on the guidance of the sun. They would be fine. It had never failed her before.

With this in mind, she fell into a deep sleep.


End file.
